Golf club



Sept. 3 F. H. GOUVERNEUR 2,092,839

GOLF opus Filed Dec. 19, 1936 Patented Sept. 14, 1937 This invention relates to particularly to the provision fa'cilitating accurate control the club head as a stroke is GOLF CLUB Fairfax H. Gouverneu signor to William A 1, Ro(heStcr, N. Y., as- Tryon, Elmira, N.

Application December 19, 1936, Serial No. 116,704

Claims.

golf clubs and more of novel means for of the movement of made and is prima- 5 rily intended for embodiment in clubs et the type known as putters.

A principal object of the invention is the provision of means associated with the club grip or handle portion which permits the weight of the club to be supported primarjly from one hand and the plane of its movemcnt largely controlled thereby, so that the other hand may be devOted substantially entirely to controlling the force or speed of the continuation club durng the back and front swings preparatcry to hitting the ball and to the or follow thro ugh of the front swing after the ball is actually struck.

Another object means for facilitating oscillatory the club in a.

fixed pivot whereby a putting stroke of the invention is to provide movement of substantially may be made single plane about a while the club is swingng in substantially the manner of a pendulum. and its head is thus moving along an arc of constant radius whereby the accuracy of the stroke is materially enhanced even when executed by a relatively unskilled player.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of design and invention ar pointed out 0 in the art fr construction comprehended by the e hereinafter more particulaly r Will be apparent to those skilled cm the following description of a putter constructed in accordance therewith as illustrated in the accompanying dlaWihg in which Fig. 1 is a view of the appears from a. stroke, the ers hands, as

putter in eleVation as it in front of the player while making approximate position of the playsuming lie is.right handed, being indicated in dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the putter showing one striking face of the Fig. 3 is an the upper end of the head; enlarged fragmentary elevation of club shaft and associated In the seve ral figures like characters are used to designate the same parts.

The putter generally'complises a.head l hercinafter more fully described, and a shaft 2 which may be made ploy and hav metallic shaft taper from th of wood, although I prefer to eme shown in the drawing a tubular made With a gradually enlargng e head to its opposite or upper end,

the shaft adjacent thereto being wrapped with soit leather 3 ouother bound with thre.ds 4 in the cust0mary manner to form the grip for the club. Ordinarfly a golf in the case of a tubular une,

my invention, a member which may be tenned the gripping head 5 is extended beyond the grip, and when a tubular metal shaft is employed this member is tion of its shank 6 into the upper end of the shaft bore where it is frictionally retained by a press fit, although if desired additional securing means such as a transverse pin or the like may be employed to hold the'shank rigidly in place and; of course, any convenient be utilized for 'securing the Inember to the end of a wooden shaft.

The gripping head 5 which is preferably made of light metal such as alurninum or an alloy thereof, or of some phenolic'condensafion product such as Bakelite, comprises a relatively thin web 1 rising upwardly from a circular shoulder 8 overlying the end of the shaft, the web extending transversely of the shaft axis in a plane substantially normal to the plane of the striking face per end of gripping head 5 above the web ischlarged to form a bearing bail 9"generally spherical in shape but which, as sh0wn, may have a small segment removed from its upperporticn, and may also be hollowed out from above to decrease its weight, thereby providing a cavity HI in its interior.

As best indicated in Figs. 3 and 4 the junctures between bail 9 and web second fingers so that the principal weight of the club is carried b these two fingers through their engagement With the lower curved surface of the ball. Thus the plane of inovemcnt 01 the club suitable material and a cap 01' plug closing the opening therein. However, in accordance with secured to it by the in5er correspondlng means may side is employed. The upof a single unitary solid metal body having a subli of constant radius 'under few practice' swings,

when the strokeis being made is largely controlled by these fingers lying on either side the web which slides between them as the club moves back and forth, and whenthe hand is kept stationary, the club may thereore readily be made to swing only in the plane of the web With a pendulumlike movement or, more strictly,to oscillate in this plane about the center of the ball as a pivotpoint.

The stfiking head of the club shown in the drawing and which I prefer to employ is formed stantially fiat sole l2 curved upwardly toward its toe l3 and heel M and is secured to the lower end of the shaft in such way that the flat.portion of the sole is disposed at anahgle' ofabot 110 to the shaft axis in conformity with usual przictice. The front striking face angles slightly less than 90 t0 theplane of the the tee, where the lower end of the shaft i s attached; in longitudinal projection the club head is thus in the form of a segmntcf a su. stantially symmetfical wedge. j.The shaf t 'isattachedto the 'striking head I tlirough insertion of its extremty: in a suitable bore"in;theflat portion of the upper face Il of the latterand a small pin, !8 is driven transversely throughholesntthe head and the shaft to'insure a*rigidtconnectioh of the parts althoughany other method of uniting them'rnay be empl0yed.- The upper face Il is preferably curvedgdownwardly and outwardly from the shaft toward the*toe and heel*which are preferably blunt in form as indicated in Fig. 2 so that the striking faces I5, 16 are of substantial Width even at"theiriend5gbnt of greatest width in line With theshaftr Thecenter of gravity of the head, and consequently the ideal point of impact with a golf bail, is thus. slightlynearer the 'heel than the toe and lies in theplane through the shaft axis normal to the striking faces. Since web 1 also lies in thisplane and tends to restrict the movement of the club thereto, the club can be made to swing smoothly in an accurate. arc the control of onlyone hand, leaving the other; positioned'on the grip 3, free to.be devoted substantially entirely to supplying and regulatingthe force necessary to eXemite the strok, and this is true whether the right orthe left hand be employed to hold bail 9 and serve :as a center 'beairing support."

More'over, either striking face of the head may be utilizedwith the same,efiect,'depending upon whether the player be right or left handed, although if desired a head of the blade type or any otherconvenient style may be employed. The center of gravity of a blade type head, however, is offset from the shaft axis and the impact of the head against the golf hall thus tends to twist the shaft*axially and ma resultin .inaccurate stroking whereas' the head herein shown, and described has no such tendency.

Thus when making a stroke the player allows hall 9 to,rest loosely'in one hand, the left if he is a right handed;blayer, wththe web extending downwardly between two fingers, preferably the index and second fingers, and his left wrist lying approximately straight in the line of his forearm; then by grasping the grip with his other hand he may readily determine, with the aidi of a the proper height above the ground and the angularity at*Which the hand controlling the club are assigned to the separate hands greatly facilimovement of the hand l5 and back striking face 16 of the head are disposed at equal fiaving thus holding the ball 9 must be held to permit him to make a smooth swinging pendulum str0ke and bring the fiat part of the sole of the club head at the bottom of the stroke just above or into light contact with the turf and in parallelism with the plane of the surface on which the ball is lying and the amount of force required to be applied by his other hand under varying conditions to produce a stroke of the required length. f r

The manner in which the various factors in thus segregated and tatesthe rapid attamnent of a high degree of skill, whil the elimination of all necessity of holding the ball 9 at the upper end of theclub permits the player to devt his attention substantially entirely to the.control of the other hand in making the stroke. r I t is therefore possible With the. aid cf;

the game in which even sonne professional golfers andamateurs of the highest standing are reputedly 'inclined t0 become'erratic at times, and through requiring toc. many putts lose important matches they might. otherwisewin.

M'club thuS reduces the extent of coordination between the hands required for accurate putting particularly when embodyirig the doublefaced head herein shown and dscribed,

and'nables experts andothers to lower ;their,

*tached to the shait, ,whether metal or wood,

in different ways, and a club head of any desired type other than as herein shown Iand described may be utilized, and other changes and modifications inthe form, construction and relationship of theseveral partsmay be made if desired within, the scope of theinvef1tion' as d6fined in the appendedclaims.

described myinvention, I claim anddesir to protect by LettersPatent of the UnitedStates:

,1; A golf club comprising a shaft,.a head havi ng a striking face at one end of theshaft,a grip adjacent the,opposite end, and a gripping head projecting from the shaftybeyond the grip comprising a web.lying-substantially normal to the plane of said striking face,the extreinity of the web merging into a substantiall spherial enlargement forming a bearing surface for pivotal movement of the club about apoint apptoximately in the center ofsaid enlargement and in the plane ofthe web.

2. A golf club comprising a shaft, a head.having a striking face at one end of the shaft, a grip adjacent the opposite and, and a gripping head. projecting beyondthe grip inalignmcnt with the shaft comprising a substantially spheri-. cal body andga substantially fiat rigid web inter: posedbetween the bodyandthe adjacent end of the .shaft extending substantially normal to said striking face. 1 s r .i r .t

' 3. A golf club comprising an elongated tubular delicate 4 shaft, a striking head having a pair of opposed striking faces at one end of the shaft and a gripping head carried by the opposite end comprisng a shank projecting into the shaft, a substantiaily circular shoulder integra] with the shank overlying the end of the shaft, a rigid web extending transversely of the shoulder in alignment with the shaft axis and ntegral With the shoulder, and a substantially spherical bail integral with the web at its opposite end.

4. In a golf club, a gripping had constituting a guide and pivotal center for movement of the club comprising a hall adapted for rotative movement within the hand of the player, a substantial1y fiat relatively thin web extending diametrically downward from the lower surface of the bal], and means for securing the web to the end of the club shaft in alignment with its axis.

5. In a golf club, a gripping head constituting a guide and pivotal center for movement of the club comprising a ball adapted for rotative movement within the hand of the player, a substantially fiat relatively thin web extending diametrically downward from the lower surface of the ball and integral therewith, the juncture between the ball and the web being rounded in reverse curves, a substantially circular shoulder integral with the lower end of the web extending tr.nsversely thereof and merging into the web in curved surfaces, and means for attaching the head to the end of the club shafti FAIRFAX H. GOUVERNEUR. 

